NEWS RELEASE
BARRIE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
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Last month, the Barrie Chamber of Commerce hosted a round table discussion with nearly 50 business owners to start a conversation about the underlying challenges that are weighing on small businesses and potential solutions.
Today, the Barrie Chamber is providing the findings from the round table to the public. Insights gained from this round table will be included in an upcoming Ontario Chamber of Commerce report. This report will be presented during Small Business Week this coming October.
The discussion was centered around infrastructure, red tape, rising utility rates, lack of skilled workers, and a number of other issues that are making it difficult to do businesses in Ontario.
"The rising cost of electricity is just one of the many elements adding to the costs of doing business in the province," said Rod Jackson, CEO of the Barrie Chamber of Commerce.
"We started this discussion to take a look at how we can mitigate these types of costs by engaging both government and business leaders in a productive conversation to the answer the question what exactly is ailing small business and how do we fix it'', said Jackson.
In addition to the rising cost of doing business, a key discussion piece was the lack of access to skilled workers.
"Building a 21st century workforce has been a cornerstone of our advocacy efforts, and that's why we have partnered with Georgian College and the City of Barrie for the Train in Technology Expo," said Jackson.
The Train in Technology Expo, which will take place this November, aims to foster greater connections between skilled workers, educators and employers.
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